


Living

by PutAnotherX



Category: Bedlam (TV)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2018-10-15 02:04:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10548198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PutAnotherX/pseuds/PutAnotherX
Summary: Those who walk amongst the dead will always struggle to fit in amongst the living. No one knows that better than Ellie. Except maybe Jed. But when they told her he was gone, she never expected him to come back. Especially not so... alive.Ryan lost his best friend to Bedlam. When he gets him back, he'll be damned if he lets him out of his sight ever again.Jed's been gone for too long. He's found himself in a whole different world. Ryan is the only thing he has left.





	1. Dust Part One

The last thing Jed remembers is that symbol. The intricate "B" cast in wrought iron all around the building, but this time it is carved into the back of a bare head.

The next thing he's aware of is dust. His mouth is filled with it, his face completely covered. His clothes are caked and crusted with the stuff. An ashen cloud forms in the air when he coughs, carving out a single layer of it from his lungs. He rubs his eyes, but all it does is move the dust around.

When he dares to open his eyes, the sky is blue. Bluer than he's ever seen it at Bedlam, with birds singing cheerfully and swooping about from tree to tree. His head lays on the plush emerald grass, one leg on top of a pile of rubble and one trapped under it. A quick tug sends pain shooting through him, starting in his thigh, deep in his bone. When he tries to speak, nothing comes out but more dust and the kind of deep, guttural cough that would get one locked up in a quarantine ward.

Every ragged breath he takes is more aching than the last, and his heart gradually catches on that he's alive, pumping more feeling into his body with each heavy thud. Voices call out to him through the ringing in his ears. A girl pops up above him. He can hear her speaking, but the words she's using are absolutely lost on him. Her dark hair bounces over him while her hands searched his body. It dawns on Jed that she actually seems to know what she's doing. Her voice fades into the foreground.

"An ambulance, Keira," she orders sharply. "He's hurt!" There's something in her face clawing at his memory. The familiar color of her eyes, the slope of her nose, and the freckles mapping out important landmarks on her skin.

It hits him like a building collapse.

"Eve," he croaks, barely audible, though he's still not sure why he remembers that name. "You're Eve."


	2. Ellie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warren's funeral takes place on a beautiful day, and Ellie hasn't seen a remnant since he died. She's not naive enough to think it'll stay that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Overall, I think I've achieved a "fuck it" approach to canon. Enjoy.

It's the quietest week Ellie has ever had at Brightmoor. Even Warren's funeral, packed in the tiny chapel stored away in the farthest corner of the grounds, is utterly devoid of remnant activity. Max told her Joseph had scared them off. She supposes he could be right.

Although she's glad to be able to walk around freely without getting that gut-punched feeling of being soaked in anguish and brutally wrung out, Ellie's entirely sure that it wasn't worth it. There's no getting use to those black, empty eyes, but people died for her one safe week. And Joseph Bale is still out there somewhere.

Keira sits next to her in the pew, pointing out key figures while the vicar leads the prayers.

"Those are Jed's parents," she whispers much too loudly, indicating a middle aged couple in the front row. "Warren's sister and her husband. Quite sad, really. They only just lost their son. Now their niece and their brother as well." Ellie nodds, not bothering to tell Keira to hush. She's learned it's a waste of breath. Max rolls his eyes on the other side of her, but he doesn't bother either. Dan is somewhere in the back row, head hung low hiding his grief.

The woman—Joan Harper, if Ellie remembered correctly—has puffy eyes rimmed in red, and her shoulders crumple into her husband's arms. Kate's funeral the day before saw the poor woman much the same way. Her thin lips and large blue eyes directly link her to Kate. Ellie imagines Kate as a little girl, hearing how much she looked like her aunt. A sharp pang fills her knowing it'd never happen again.

"They were twins, you know," Keira says. "Warren and Joan. Very close from what I've heard."

"We're at a funeral, Keira," Max whispers sharply, leaning around Ellie. "Could you keep your voice down?"

She just pouts and sticks out the tip of her tongue at him. For the first time all week, Ellie cracks a smile.  
\---  
"You two can go on ahead," Keira says a few meters from the chapel, shifting her weight from one stiletto-ed foot to the other. "I think I'm going to take a walk."

"Would you like some company?" Ellie offers. Keira seems to consider it for a second.

"Actually. That sounds lovely."

Brightmoor is uncharacteristically gorgeous. The crystal blue sky is unmarred by a single cloud, and birds flitted about gaily.

"It's so perfect out," Keira gripes as they walk. "It doesn't seem right, does it?" Ellie hums in agreement. "My best friend and my... whatever he was. Both gone. And the world is just going on anyway. And I haven't even cried yet. Not really, I mean. It's a bit messed up."

"You haven't processed it yet," Ellie says. "I've seen it happen. People can go days or weeks before—" A thunderous roar cuts her off, a mushroom cloud of grey dust cutting into the air. Keira and Ellie exchange looks before breaking out into a sprint towards the commotion.

There, on the ground, where scaffolding and bricks used to be, is a pile of rubble and a man. He's ashen from the top of his head to where his legs disappear underneath the wreckage. Ellie would be sure he's dead if he didn't try to wipe his face and let out a truly deathly cough, spreading more dust into the air.

"He's alive, Keira!" she shouts. She reaches him far quicker than Keira, due in large part to the inappropriate funeral attire she has on, but it's Keira who recognizes him.

"Oh, god," she whispers, her voice quieter than Ellie has ever heard it. She kneels beside him, grass staining the knees of her black tights. "Jed. Ellie, this is Jed."

Ellie's hands instinctively find their way around his body, pressing to check for trauma. His brown eyes—the only bit of color she can see on him beneath the dust—follow her dazedly. 

"Call an ambulance, Keira," she orders. "He's hurt!" Her phone's out before Ellie can blink, and her dialing is just as fast. The man's eyes study Ellie's face.

"Eve," he rasps through the ash that is surely coating his throat. "You're Eve."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jed wakes up at the hospital. Ellie doesn't know what's going to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just pretend that probate and inheritance law doesn't exist. That's what I did.

The harsh fluorescent lights of the hospital always had a way of draining the color out of people, but Jed is still a few shades darker once he's divested of the ash that covered him. He looks peaceful to Ellie, and more alive than anyone who ought to be dead has any right to look. She's taken to anxiously checking the IV in his hand every few minutes as if she could actually do something if it were wrong.

The room is tiny, not meant for as many people as they have packed in it.

"Do any of you have any emergency contact information for him?" the nurse asks, her pen poised to write on the memo pad in her hand. Ellie casts a meaningful look to Keira and Max. 

Keira frowns. "I would have called Kate," she says. "Or Warren. I have no idea."

"What about their flat mate Ryan?" Max asks. "I have his number."

"Good enough for me," the nurse says, and Max recites the information from his contacts list. Ellie takes the moment to search Jed's features for an answer to any of the questions pounding through her brain. 

She doesn't know what she expects, but she gets nothing.  
\---  
A tentative knock on the door startles the three out of their collective stupor. Max crosses the room in long strides to answer it. The man behind it is disheveled to say the least. His blue-grey eyes are red-rimmed with dark circles carved underneath them, and his brown hair sticks up at odd angles. His clothes are wrinkled, mismatched, and tucked into each other at the wrong places.

"You better not be fucking with me, Max," the man says, "or so help me God, I'll—"

He stops talking when he sees Jed, and Ellie could pick his jaw up off the floor.

"Ryan," Max begins, "it's him, right?"

The man—Ryan—nods, obviously blinking back tears.

"How bad is it?" he asks.

Ellie speaks up, "It's just a broken leg and some cuts and bruises. They had to sedate him because he was fighting them."

"He was upset," Ryan says, his voice choking. It isn't a question. "How long until he wakes up?"

"Should be any time now," Max answers. Ryan takes a chair from the corner and pulls it up by the bedside, his eyes never leaving Jed for a nanosecond.

It's thirteen minutes. When Jed's eyes flutter open, Ryan is the first thing they lock on.

"Ry," he huffs out, "Ryan, I don't want to be here."

He tries to sit up, but Ryan's arm appears to push him back down.

"I know, Jed, but I promise they won't keep you. You won't even be in the same ward, alright? How are you feeling?"

"Like a building fell on me, Ryan," Jed snarks. "How do you think I feel? I want to get out of here."

Ellie interjects, "I don't think that's a good idea." Instantly, she feels the stares of Ryan and Jed.

"Who the hell are you?" Ryan demands. His eyes are narrow and cold. Jed's are softer, searching her face as if she's familiar. For all she knows, she might be.

"I'm Ellie," she says. "I found him. I'm also a paramedic. You should stay here for observation, Jed. At least for the night." Jed's eyes shift back to Ryan.

"I appreciate your input, _Ellie_ ," Ryan says, his voice dripping in practiced politeness, "but he's not staying here a second longer than he has to. Can you all give us a minute?"  
\---  
They all file out into the hall, giving each other meaningful looks. The nurse who took Jed's emergency contact information strides past them to the room. Dan choose this moment to speak for the first time since they'd gotten to the hospital.

"They're going to need somewhere to stay," he says slowly, considering each word. His friends all watch him. "I'm going to offer them a flat."

Keira gives him a look that Ellie can't decipher. "Dan, you—"

"Bedl—Brightmoor is mine now," Dan says, interrupting her. "Jed is family and it's pretty obvious Ryan's not going to let him out of his sight. I've made up my mind."

Keira shrugs. "I wasn't going to try to talk you out of it. I think you're right."

Ellie doesn't say what she wants to. That Bedlam needs Jed. That he could be her brother. That ever since he had left, she's been stuck with his old abilities, and she doesn't know how any of this is going to work. That she's terrified to find out.

She doesn't say anything, just nods along to Dan's words.

**Author's Note:**

> Now that Bedlam is on Hulu, I can watch it all I want. Plus that extra shirtless Jed scene that my pirated version did NOT include. Enjoy the fruits of that new development.


End file.
